


Cat's In the Cradle

by enigmaticblue



Series: Dean Winchester, Agent of SHIELD [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: Tony doesn't want to repeat his mistakes.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark
Series: Dean Winchester, Agent of SHIELD [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/84298
Comments: 22
Kudos: 91
Collections: Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Cat's In the Cradle

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the WILD CARD square of my hc_bingo card, "abandonment issues."

_“And the cat’s in the cradle and a silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon, ‘When you coming home, dad?’ ‘I don’t know when,’ but we’ll get together then. You know we’ll have a good time then.”_ ~Harry Chapin, “Cat’s in the Cradle”

As soon as Tony gets home from Germany, he goes straight to his workshop and locks it down. “I’m unavailable, J,” Tony orders. “Until I say otherwise.”

He pulls up his latest project for SI—the latest iteration of the Stark Phone, designed to integrate with the watch that will be hitting shelves in a few months. As he bounces components between screens, Tony tries not to think about Bruce, but it’s hard.

Bruce had looked good this time—hale and hearty, deeply tanned and lean, his hair and beard still wild and liberally streaked with gray. Tony had wanted nothing more than to follow Bruce back to Africa, to find a way to stay with him, but that’s out of the question.

Tony’s fame works against him here, and Bruce and Dean ran to the ends of the earth for good reason.

While Secretary Ross still occasionally tries to force him to take a mission, Tony won’t soon forget or forgive the fact that Ross blackmailed him and threatened Bruce. Tony figures Ross can find someone else to do his dirty work.

The part Tony’s trying not to think about is the fact that Bruce is clearly _happy_ , as is Dean. They’re content with their work, and their friendship, and Tony is glad for them, even as he tries desperately to not think about or acknowledge his own loneliness. He doesn’t have Bruce, he doesn’t have his team, and he doesn’t really have Rhodey or Pepper, who are off doing their own things.

He’s always been lonely, but it bothers him more now, because for a brief, shining moment—he hadn’t been.

Tony turns the music up another few notches, trying to let the familiar lyrics become white noise, and after a couple of hours, it does.

When Tony is working and in the zone, he can forget that Bruce is gone, and that Tony hasn’t figured out how to bring him home yet. He can forget that Bruce might not even _want_ to come home.

When Tony is tinkering, he only thinks about the engineering, the creation, and the work.

Three days later, he finally comes up for air once he’s completed all of his outstanding projects for Pepper. He hasn’t slept or eaten much, and he knows that Bruce would be on his case, but Bruce isn’t here.

Tony takes a swig of water and asks, “J? Any messages for me?”

“Mr. Parker has left three messages for you, sir,” Jarvis replies.

Tony rubs his eyes. He really doesn’t want to deal with Peter right now, but he knows what Dean would say, and Tony doesn’t want to be like his father.

Hell, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to be like _Dean’s_ father either, which means he needs to talk to Peter and find out what’s going on. Peter has been known to call and leave random messages, but he tries to stick to business most of the time with Tony at least.

“Go ahead and play the messages,” Tony says wearily.

The first one starts. “I’m really sorry to bother you, Mr. Stark, but I’m uh, having a little trouble with the suit.”

That’s all Peter says, which doesn’t tell Tony much of anything. Then the second message: “I guess you’re really busy, Mr. Stark, but I’m kind of in a jam here, and I don’t know what to do. Call me back?”

And then the third message, “You can just ignore the messages, Mr. Stark. I don’t want to be a bother.”

Tony can hear the disappointment in Peter’s voice, and the kid probably thinks that Tony is ignoring him. “How long ago was that last message sent?”

“About an hour ago, sir,” Jarvis replies. “If he’d seemed to be in real distress, I would have interrupted.”

Tony sighs. “Yeah, I know, J. Where is he now?”

And yes, Tony totally lo-jacked the suit that he made for Peter. There was no way he was letting the kid get his hands on Tony’s tech without having some insurance.

Peter is at home, at least, so hopefully he’s not in too much trouble, and Tony drives to Queens, moving through the late afternoon traffic as quickly as he can.

Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, Tony uses the fire escape to climb up to Peter’s bedroom window, rather than trying the front door, assuming that if Peter’s still in trouble, he’s probably hiding as best he can.

The window is cracked slightly, and Tony peers inside, rolling his eyes when he realizes exactly what’s happened. Peter somehow managed to override the training protocols, and he’s currently in full Iron Spider mode.

Actually, the eight legs are out and on the ground, keeping Peter suspended above the ground, like a turtle that’s been flipped upside down.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter squeaks as soon as he sees him.

Tony climbs through the window and puts his hands on his hips. “Peter.”

“I’m sorry!” Peter protests. “I just got curious.”

Tony really can’t blame him for that. “Why didn’t you just get out of the suit?”

“The lady said I needed the password to prove I was the actual owner!” Peter protests. “I never had the password!”

“Because you weren’t supposed to get past the training protocols until I _gave_ you the password,” Tony counters. “Which is ‘Aunt May rocks.’”

“Aunt May rocks!” Peter says desperately, and the legs retract, dumping Peter on the floor. He doesn’t waste time scrambling out of the suit, leaving him in just his boxers.

Tony slaps a hand over his eyes. “Please put your clothes on.”

Peter squeaks again, and Tony can hear rustling as Peter—presumably—throws clothing on. “I’m decent.”

Tony lets out a breath and puts his hand down. Peter is dressed—somewhat haphazardly—in jeans and green t-shirt. Tony barks out a laugh when he realizes that it’s a Hulk t-shirt.

“Your fanboy status is not in question,” Tony says with some amusement. “And that will not get you out of trouble.”

“Please, Mr. Stark, I was supposed to meet Aunt May fifteen minutes ago, and she said she’d ground me from being Spider-Man if I blew her off,” Peter pleads. “You can yell at me later.”

“How about I drive you to meet her, and I can yell at you on the way?” Tony suggests.

Peter looks pathetically grateful for the offer. “You could have dinner with us.”

Or Tony could go back to his empty Penthouse and his empty workshop.

Dean’s words still echo in his ears. Peter is _Tony’s_ responsibility now. If Tony hadn’t involved Peter in a fight with a bunch of other superheroes, that wouldn’t be the case, but here they are.

“Yes, I could,” Tony replies. “Come on, let’s go.”

Peter appears just a little bit sullen as he slumps in the passenger seat, and Tony takes a deep breath. “You know I put the training protocols on the suit for a reason. I think I might have mentioned it when I gave it to you.”

“And I promised not to get around them,” Peter muttered. “Yeah, I know, but—it’s really cool.”

Tony wishes that Dean were there, or Bruce. Either of them would be doing a better job than he is right now. “Well, now that you’ve overridden the training protocols, you’re going to actually be training,” Tony says reasonably. He strives for the opposite tone of voice that his dad would have used.

Peter stares at him. “With who?”

“I have a training room that can run scenarios,” Tony replies. “We’ll set up a schedule.”

Peter perks up. “Are you going to train with me?”

“How else am I going to help you learn?” Tony asks.

“Seriously?” Peter asks.

“That fake internship just became very, very real,” Tony says seriously. “And I’m serious about this. If you’re going to be running around with my tech, and you’re going to override the very sensible training protocols, you’re going to learn how to use it in a controlled environment.”

The way Peter is looking at him, you’d think Tony just handed him the moon, and not a punishment, but Peter has mostly been left to his own devices.

And Dean’s right. If Peter really wants to do this job, then he needs training. Also, he probably needs some ground rules, as well as detailed information on just what he’s getting himself into.

“I would love that, Mr. Stark!”

“We’ll see,” Tony replies ominously. “I’m not going to go easy on you.”

Peter subsides a bit. “What are you going to tell Aunt May?”

“About why you’re late, and why I’m with you?” Tony asks.

Peter nods. “Yeah, I mean. She’ll ground me.”

Taking pity on him, Tony says, “Not if she thinks I was the one who made you late because we were talking about the details of your internship. There’s training, and then there are a few other things, just so you can put it on your college applications. You’re not going to have a lot of free time, kid.”

“It will be worth it,” Peter says fervently. “Thank you.”

If there’s a silver lining in all of this, Tony thinks that Peter might offer something of a distraction from his own troubles. Maybe he can forget about his loneliness, and Bruce being happier without him, and the very legitimate scolding he received from Dean.

Maybe Tony can make this one thing just a little bit right.

Peter directs Tony to a Thai restaurant. They could have walked, but Tony knows how to find parking in the city, and he slides into a garage only a block away that would normally be private but a couple of bills takes care of that easily.

Tony keeps his sunglasses on when they enter, hoping that no one remarks on his presence.

“You’d be less conspicuous without the sunglasses,” Peter stage whispers.

Tony takes off the sunglasses, and gives him a half-hearted glare.

“You look like my uncle, and probably my aunt’s date,” Peter says in a low voice.

Tony snorts, but doesn’t argue. It’s camouflage, and Tony could use that.

May is frowning when she sees Peter. “You’re late. I thought—“

“That was my fault,” Tony says, cutting her off without apology. “I wanted to talk to Peter about expanding his internship, and I made him late.”

May’s eyes widen, and she says, “Oh, Mr. Stark! I didn’t even see you there. Are you joining us for dinner? I hope you will.”

“I would love to,” Tony replies. “But I insist on buying, since I was the one holding things up.”

May attempts to demur, but Tony shakes his head. “We’re celebrating,” he replies, sitting down and picking up a menu. “What’s good here?”

He actually passes an enjoyable evening with Peter and his aunt, speaking mostly about Peter and his schoolwork, but then May asks, “And how is Ms. Potts? I heard you two were back together.”

Tony freezes for a moment, thrown back to the days when he’d been with Bruce, and while they hadn’t been obvious about it, people had known. He remembers when he didn’t go home to an empty house every night.

And then he remembers the life that he’s living now, or pretending to live, and he says lightly, “I think she’s in Los Angeles this week, running my company.”

May smiles sympathetically. “It must be difficult to be separated.”

Tony forces a smile. “We’re used to it.”

Peter glances at him uncertainly, but he’s a smart kid, and he neatly changes the subject. “When do you want me at the Tower, Mr. Stark?”

“How about tomorrow after school, if you don’t have practice?” Tony suggests, and then they’re on to safer topics.

Tony’s car is a two-seater, so he can’t offer a ride back home, but May insists she doesn’t mind. “It’s a nice evening,” she replies.

And it really is a nice evening—or at least the weather is nice, especially for late August. It’s an evening he wishes he could spend with Bruce, who would have insisted on walking as well.

“Enjoy,” Tony replies.

Concern flashes across Peter’s face, and he says, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Stark.”

“Sure you will,” Tony agrees easily.

Tony drives back to the Tower and parks in the underground garage, and he’s in the elevator heading back up to the Penthouse when Jarvis warns him, “Secretary Ross is here.”

Tony bites back a curse. “Did you tell him I wasn’t home?”

“He said he had intelligence on where Dr. Banner is,” Jarvis replies apologetically. “I thought it might be wise to allow him to wait.”

Tony feels his irritation rise along with his fear. Bruce might be in Africa, but he’s not beyond the reach of the Accords. Wakanda had been a major player in getting them pushed through the U.N., after all.

He hates that Ross can still use Bruce against him, in spite of all the precautions they’ve taken.

Tony puts on the same mask he’s worn in public since everything fell apart, the same devil-may-care expression he’d perfected over the years.

He enters the Penthouse and finds that Ross has made himself at home, sitting in the main area with a drink in his hand. “You’ve been ducking my calls.”

Tony shrugs. “I may have signed the Accords, but as I’ve told you, you can’t afford my consulting fees, and I’m not waiving them this time.”

Ross takes a sip of his drink. “I hear Munich is nice this time of year, although it’s a little early for Oktoberfest.”

Tony knew that Ross was watching him, or is having him watched. It’s one of the reasons he’s been so careful. “I had a philanthropic meeting,” Tony replies. “Feeding starving orphans or something like that. Pepper insists that it’s good for my image.”

“And Dr. Banner?” Ross raises an eyebrow.

Tony shrugs. Even if Ross’ goons had spotted Bruce in Munich, he was back in Africa now. He’s pretty sure that Ross is fishing, looking for a weakness. “I haven’t spoken to him in months. I doubt I’m good for his complexion these days.”

“And Spider-Man?” Ross asks, although he seems less interested in Peter than he is in Bruce. Tony knows that the Hulk would be easier to weaponize.

“Still underage,” Tony replies. “And as I’m sure you remember, the Accords are very specific about revealing the identify of a minor enhanced person.”

“He won’t be a minor forever,” Ross warns.

Tony plans on having a very thorough conversation with Peter about the Accords and what he’s going to be getting himself into in the very near future.

Tony might need to learn things the hard way sometimes, but he’s taken Dean’s words to heart.

“No, that’s the thing about people, they do age,” Tony replies. “And on that note, I’d politely invite you to get out.”

Ross tosses back the rest of his drink. “Sooner or later, Dr. Banner’s control will slip,” he says. “And when that happens, he’ll be in violation of the Accords.”

Tony barely manages not to bare his teeth in a snarl. “I think you’re underestimating him, but that’s really none of my business.”

Ross snorts. “If I find out you’ve been sheltering him, I’ll come after you with the full power of the law behind me.”

Tony isn’t afraid of what Ross will do to him, but he fears what he might try to do to Bruce and Dean, and what they might do as a result.

And there really aren’t many places in the world to hide anymore.

“You do that,” Tony says snidely, unable to resist a parting shot.

Days like today, Tony remembers _why_ Bruce left, and he’s even somewhat grateful that Bruce is largely out of harm’s way.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss Bruce with an ache that never really goes away, though.

He doesn’t sleep that night, too wired to even try. He works on a new project for SI and drinks cup after cup of coffee. He wants to email Bruce, to tell him to watch his back, but he doesn’t.

Tony isn’t going to tell Bruce about this little visit, because he doesn’t need the worry. Whether Bruce wants to come home or not, whether he still thinks about New York, and the Tower, and Tony as _home_ , the only way he even has the option is by ousting Ross.

Tony will either have to get enough dirt on Ross to discredit him completely, or he’ll have to replace him. And Tony really doesn’t want to deal with politics, but he doesn’t have many options.

He does catch a nap before Peter is due to arrive, and takes a shower to help wake up. Peter turns up right on time at 4, and he smiles uncertainly when he knocks on the door to the lab, where Tony asked Jarvis to direct him.

“Let him in, J,” Tony says. “How was school today?”

“Good,” Peter replies, and then he says hesitantly, “Can I ask you a question, Mr. Stark?”

“You can ask,” Tony replies, wondering where this is going.

“Are you still with Dr. Banner, and if so, should I not talk about it?” Peter asks.

Tony sighs. “Yes, I am still with Dr. Banner, and no, it’s not something you should talk about,” Tony replies.

“Because of the Accords?” Peter asks.

Tony waves him to a stool. “Yeah, you know that Dr. Banner and Agent Winchester are on the run, right? Secretary Ross wants to use them as weapons.”

Peter nods seriously. “Got it.”

Tony gives him a long look. “You know that you’re sheltered from the Accords because you’re still a minor.”

Peter shrugs. “Until I’m 18, and then I have to decide if I’m going to sign.”

“It’s a bigger decision than you might think,” Tony replies. “Once you sign the Accords, they have their hooks in you.”

Peter grimaces. “Why did you sign them, then?”

“Because I had to protect Bruce,” Tony says simply. “And I would have done anything to keep him safe.”

Peter shifts. “Would they use Aunt May?”

“If they thought they could get away with it,” Tony replies. “That’s why you’ll have to think very carefully about what you want to do your gifts. I threw you into the fight without enough information, and that’s on me.”

Peter shook his head emphatically. “I wanted to help.”

“I put you in the line of fire,” Tony says. “You have time to consider your options, and decide what you want to do, and I’m going to make sure you can make an informed decision next time.”

They have a couple of years, after all, and there might be a little more wiggle room in the Accords by then. Ross might be gone. Anything could happen in two years.

Peter is staring at him, wide-eyed. “Why, Mr. Stark?”

“Why what?” Tony asks, lack of sleep and missing Bruce making him sound sharper than intended.

“Why would you take the time?” Peter asks.

Tony feels stung by the question, although it’s a fair one. He hasn’t spent much time with Peter. There had been the trip to Europe, but that was mostly a ruse to allow him to see Bruce. He gave Peter a suit, and checked in a couple of times, but that had been it.

“Because my old man never took the time to talk to me about these sorts of things, and Dean recently reminded me that I have a responsibility to do a better job than he did,” Tony replies. “And if you’re going to override the controls on the suit, you need to know how to use it.”

Peter looks abashed. “I’m sorry I had to bother you.”

Tony offers a half-smile. “I’m not, kid. You got me out of my funk for the night. I should be thanking you.”

Peter blushes. “Any time, Mr. Stark. I’m glad I could help.”

“Call me Tony,” he insists. “Mr. Stark was my father.”

And Tony isn’t going to be anything like his father. Not if he can help it.


End file.
